By Nasir Khan, Feb 18, 2012
Because of some physical difficulties, I will not be posting any articles on my blogs or write any comments on any internet articles in the coming weeks. But I hope to resume posting when the present condition improves.
Archive for February, 2012
For the information of our readers
February 18, 2012Chomsky: American Decline in Perspective, Part 1
February 16, 2012By Noam Chomsky, TomDispatch.com, Jan 14, 2012
Significant anniversaries are solemnly commemorated — Japan’s attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, for example. Others are ignored, and we can often learn valuable lessons from them about what is likely to lie ahead. Right now, in fact.
At the moment, we are failing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s decision to launch the most destructive and murderous act of aggression of the post-World War II period: the invasion of South Vietnam, later all of Indochina, leaving millions dead and four countries devastated, with casualties still mounting from the long-term effects of drenching South Vietnam with some of the most lethal carcinogens known, undertaken to destroy ground cover and food crops.
The imperial way: American decline in perspective, part 2
February 16, 2012The US’s presumed right to impose its will on the world, by force if necessary, has not changed. But its capacity to do so has
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- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 February 2012 18.07 GMT
An Iranian female student during a demonstration marking the 32nd anniversary of US Embassy in Tehran, 2011. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
In the years of conscious, self-inflicted decline at home, “losses” continued to mount elsewhere. In the past decade, for the first time in 500 years, South America has taken successful steps to free itself from western domination, another serious loss. The region has moved towards integration, and has begun to address some of the terrible internal problems of societies ruled by mostly Europeanized elites, tiny islands of extreme wealth in a sea of misery. They have also rid themselves of all US military bases and of IMF controls. A newly formed organization, CELAC, includes all countries of the hemisphere apart from the US and Canada. If it actually functions, that would be another step in American decline, in this case in what has always been regarded as “the backyard”.
Glenn Greenwald: U.S. drones targeting rescuers and mourners
February 7, 2012 Glenn Greenwald, uruknet.info, Feb 6, 2012
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Images from a Predator B unmanned aircraft are seen on a monitored at the Naval Air Station, in November, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Credit: AP) (updated below – Update II – Update III) On December 30 of last year, ABC News reported on a 16-year-old Pakistani boy, Tariq Khan, who was killed with his 12-year-old cousin when a car in which he was riding was hit with a missile fired by a U.S. drone. As I noted at the time, the report contained this extraordinary passage buried in the middle:
What made that sentence so amazing was that it basically amounts to a report that the U.S. first kills people with drones, then fires on the rescuers and others who arrive at the scene where the new corpses and injured victims lie. |
Get the Data: Obama’s terror drones
February 6, 2012by Chris Woods , Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Feb 4, 2012
The remains of a house destroyed in a CIA drone strike in Waziristan, April 2009 (Noor Behram)
As part of its ongoing investigation into the US covert war the Bureau has examined thousands of credible media reports relating to more than 310 Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes in Pakistan.
These incidents were reported by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, CNN, ABC News, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and reputable Pakistani media (see bottom table).
CIA drone strikes tend to be reported on a case-by-case basis. Yet it became clear to the Bureau that a number of specific tactics were being deployed. These included multiple attacks by drones on rescuers attempting to aid victims of previous strikes. There were also a number of credible reports of funerals and mourners being attacked by CIA drones.
Hundreds of slaughtered civilians isn’t a ‘huge number’ for Obama
February 2, 2012Russia Today, Feb 1, 2012
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On Monday afternoon, Barack Obama became the first president to host a virtual town hall live on the Internet. While that might be a feat worthy of the record books, President Obama did something else during his address that America has become accustomed to: he lied to the world.
Speaking Monday during a live web-chat hosted by Google, the president took on a series of issues submitted by the American people. Over the span of 45 minutes, President Obama addressed the Stop Online Piracy Act while refusing to side with either end of the argument, admitted to the world that he isn’t all that swell of a dancer and took a query from a professional puppeteer. In between ignoring the real issues or offering any sort of solid solution to the nation’s biggest problems, the president did put something rather important out for the world to ponder: America’s ongoing drone missions aren’t really all that bad. |
Badri Raina: Rage (a poem)
February 2, 2012Rage
by Badri Raina
The rich, they rage together,
The rich are unionised;
The poor have separate religions,
The poor are well advised.
The rich, they say they want no state,
But know they are the state;
The poor, how they need a state
That might turn round their fate.
The rich, their grievance never ends,
They never have enough;
The poor, they are ready to go
With the least crumb in the trough.
The gods, they do not advocate
Equality, justice, peace;
They favour or disfavour,
Depending upon the fees.
Caring ones write articles,
But what article has worth
If the writer be not of the set
Rich in social girth.
Thus how the tree in my steady ken
Seems always to know better;
As I write of a world in whirl,
Rooted remains his letter.
——-January 31, 2012
Arab Intelligence Agencies Collaborate With Mossad to Detain, Extradite Hamas Activist to Israel
February 1, 2012Richard Silverstein, Tikum Olam, February 1st, 2012
Imprisoned Palestinian engineer, Jafar Daghlas
In a story reminiscent of the kidnapping of Dirar Abusisi, a Palestinian engineer known for his activities in support of Hamas, has been arrested and interrogated for long periods by the Mukhabarat in both the United Arab Emirates and Jordan:
Was Israel behind the overseas arrest of a Palestinian engineer suspected of ties with Hamas? The arrested man thinks it was – but Hamas blames the Palestinian Authority.
Jafar Daghlas, 27, a resident of the West Bank town of Burka who until recently lived in Abu Dhabi, has been questioned by two different Arab security services recently – those of the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. He suspects Israel was trying to get him extradited here
The victim enlisted the support of a professional engineering association in Jordan and Friends of Humanity, a human rights NGO which intervened on his behalf to prevent what he expected would be his extradition to Israel. It appears too that if he had been extradited and imprisoned in Israel, this would’ve been doing the PA’s bidding as well, since it accuses him of fundraising and arms trafficking on behalf of Hamas. It’s quite a cozy, comfy relationship all these mukhabaratnikim (there probably isn’t even such a Hebrew word, but I like the sound of it) have with each other.
Peace and Justice Post 